Our first attempt was with Under Sea, the largest and most well-known company offering deep board tours. After some debate we decided to splurge on a trip to Cayos Zapatillas over a shorter and cheaper option. While similar tours including lunch, snorkeling, and beach time at Zapatillas are advertised all over the island for $35, Under Sea charges $50. But unlike the cheaper versions, this one offered the chance to try deep boarding. We signed up.

The woman who signed us up won my heart immediately by promising to put Diet Coke on the boat, and we practically skipped to the tour office the next day. The trip started off really well, with dolphins leaping around the boat in aptly named Dolphin Bay and sloths mugging for us at Solarte Cay. They were nice stops to break up the somewhat long journey out to Zapatilla.

As the boat pulled up towards Zapatilla you could hear the shuffle as every single person on the boat reached for their camera. Yes, that was paradise. The kind of palm-lined island that postcards are made of. I turned to Anders, who was in the Caribbean for the first time, and assured him that it was as good as it gets.

I ignored the cattle-like feeling as we were herded off the boats and into an area to await instructions. Because we were such a large group, it was explained, some would deep board while others snorkeled and others ate lunch. Anders and I practically tripped over ourselves volunteering to go first.

In the simplest terms, deep boarding involves clinging to a custom molded piece of plastic while being dragged by a boat. The setup allowed for three at a time. “So, should you go in the middle with the camera?” I asked our guide. The poster advertising the trip had boasted free underwater photos as a major feature, and I had made a point to ask the saleswoman about it upon sign up — she assured me they’d be uploaded to a special online album where we could download as we pleased. “Oh, we can’t do those today. There are too many people,” the guide shrugged. I tried not to show my annoyance while I explained that we had been promised photos when booking, and that it was a huge selling point of the tour to us, which was met by yet another shrug. Granted, as a blogger photos are more important to me than they may be to the average tourist but I don’t know why the number of guests should mean that an advertised and confirmed feature of the tour should be omitted. Luckily, Anders had his GoPro so he was able to snap a few shots. But we were pretty bummed.

We absolutely adored the deep boarding. While there was nothing much to see, it was really fun and exhilarating! When we wanted to go deeper, we tilted the board down and sailed to the sea floor. I was amazed by how long I lasted underwater without craving air, I suppose because I wasn’t using any energy to get there. When it was finally necessary. I simply nudged the board towards the surface and soon broke above the gentle waves.

We were just getting the hang of it when our twelve minutes or so were up. We had a lovely lunch and lazed on the beach for a bit, but we were itching to deep board a bit more. We casually asked one of the employees if it was possible to go for a second round and they replied that usually it was no problem — but today there were too many people.

Well, hey — at least our backup plan was hanging out on the most beautiful beach of all times.

I admit that having worked in the tourism industry, Anders and I both have very high standards especially when it comes to customer service. And that is why I unfortunately cannot recommend using this company based on the customer service and the short amount of time actually spent on the boards. There were so many positives — a fantastic lunch, a lovely sales lady in the town office, a beautiful island, and a unique activity. However, as budget travelers this wasn’t cheap for us and we were disappointed by the false advertising and more importantly, by the lackluster response we received when we noted the discrepancies in what was promised and received. We tried talking to the manager upon return and he offered no compensation or even apology. I was so annoyed I actually left a Tripadvisor review — something I haven’t done in years!

We did have a pretty good laugh over what grinches we had become, sitting around and bitching in paradise.

A few days later, we still had the itch to try the deep boarding again, but we were not in the mood to hand over more cash to Under Sea. So were thrilled when we found Coral Surfing, a small business offering a similar experience with a slightly modified board. This time, wallets still stinging, we went for the $30 “half day” option, though we suspiciously asked many questions about how many other customers there would be and how much time we would get in the water. “As much as you want!,” the saleswoman assured us. “You’ll be the only customers.”

And she wasn’t kidding. A lovely French woman picked us up and brought us out to a remote bay somewhere around Isla Colon. There, she dropped us into the water and explained how to signal to her that we wanted to go faster or slower. These boards were somewhat more advanced — instead of just going up and down, we could also go left and right, or do complete twirls underwater! It was amazing how entertaining it was.

Though the water was deeper in this area than it had been in Zapatilla, there was much more to see. Patches of hard coral were interspersed with row after row after row of starfish — I stopped counting around fifty. And there was no false sales pitch here. We really did stay in the water for as long as we wanted. For me, it was about an hour, though Anders stayed in for an extra thirty minutes or so. When I was in the boat, I couldn’t get over how slow it was moving — it had seemed like we were torpedoing forward when I was being dragged behind it! You can see footage from our tour in this video.

If you’re coming to Bocas del Toro to try this unique new watersport, I’d recommend checking out Coral Surfing — they also do trips to Zapatilla, so you can get the best of both worlds. But regardless of who you book with, I strongly suggest you wear a one piece bathing suit. I spent a decent amount of time on both tours worried I was about to moon all of Bocas del Toro. At least that would be one benefit of the no camera situation.

Hi Alex,
I would love to try this, and I don’t think you sounded like Grinch’s – just disgruntled customers who had been sold something that you didn’t receive. Quite right to not recommend the company and what a shame about their attitude. Good customer service is very important – no matter how much you pay and what end of the market you are at. I think its all about attitude!
Second time around sounds amazing though. 🙂

I’ve never worked in tourism, and would have been just as disappointed as you. Maybe even more so of the employees reaction. But – that island looks amazing! And your second experience with only the two of you – what a deal! I’ve never heard about coral surfing until just now, but I must do it! Sounds like a blast!

You still might want to give it a try… you can come up for air as often as you need! I’m awful at breath holding despite never having smoked a day in my life, and was amazed how long I could stay under. I think it’s the lack of energy you need to expend!

that sounds like so much fun. It’s a shame there aren’t beachy activities here in Goa, only only company even does SUP and it’s 40 min away… hmm maybe I should start a business lol . Was it scary at all to do? I’m imagining aiming to far down and hitting the bottom or getting dragged across coral. How would she know if you want/need to come up?

No lie, I have a ten page business plan about starting a SUP business on a certain island paradise 🙂 You are the only one who controls coming up or down, but if you want the boat slowed down you just switch to holding the board with one hand and signal a thumbs down (or thumbs up to go faster.) I was mostly concerned about the impact of stupid tourists (myself included) damaging the coral but we had a lot of control over the boards!

We once had a plastic board similar to the second tour except it was just one piece that canted up and down. Bought it to tow behind our dinghy to look for lobster or conch, and were so excited when we “discovered” we could go under the surface and sort of steer! It was just a cheapo plastic toy basically, bought at West Marine I think, about 10 years ago. Only lasted a few months though before the plastic cracked. Must try that again!!

Hi Alex, wow this is amazing! Thanks for letting us know about coral surfing. I can’t believe its only offered in just one place in the world! I’d love to try this out one day…if i ever get to that part of the globe 🙂

They responded pretty defensively to my Tripadvisor review and basically said it was invalid since they brought Diet Coke on the boat just for me 🙂 Which was kind of funny since I had listed that as one of the positives of the tour right off the bat. But apparently doing on thing right means you can’t do anything else wrong!

You just come up whenever you need air! It’s the WEIRDEST thing though, you need to breathe maybe half as often as you think you would. I guess because you aren’t exerting any energy your body doesn’t need to use it?

Hey, currently in Bocas Del Toro and coral surfing (the company) no longer exist…just for information. Other companies still offer it as part of a day tour and one company, gambit tours, offer 30minutes for $25.

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I'm a New York native who left my home to explore the world slowly and thoroughly. I’m just a little obsessed with photography, scuba diving, and reading guidebooks to countries I have no immediate plans to visit.